Mark 15

God’s Grace will Reveal Our Sin

All of us, if we are going truly have a relationship with the God who is there, must at some point grasp with some degree and maintain a heart-felt understanding of the outrage of our sin.  It is by no small amount of grace that converts the most depraved of society to the love of Christ.  The murderers, the unfaithful, the thieves, and extortionist who come to Christ can all attest to the great grace that was made available to them.  But there also a special grace that is able to reveal the outrageous depravity of the “casual” sinner.

There is of course no such thing except in the imaginations of the spiritually blind.  But it is truly an amazing feat of grace to convince the “good” people of society of the rot of sin festering in their hearts.  The trouble is human beings in their rebellious nature against God has forsaken God’s standard of what is right and we leave it up to ourselves to decide what is morally right.  Would you ever consider lying to be a capital offense? Would you think a death sentence for immorality in our modern times is justified?  The cross of Christ is proof that it is.  The horrendous death including the farce of a trial he received both by Jewish leadership and Pilate that demonstrates the reality depraved human judgement, the release of the guilty and the condemnation of the Just.

The Scriptures stands to prove that we are like them.  We follow the marching orders of our own sinful natures building arguments against God’s words and standards of righteousness.   If there will be any talk of reconciliation with God, there must first be grace that comes from God only that can awaken the sinner to his sin.  The cross is final and absolute depiction of not only the outrage of our sin, but the kindness of God.

The Outrage of the Cross Shows us the Outrage of our Sin

The only way good people can be convinced that they are not good and should be numbered with the vilest of humanity is through long meditation on the outrageousness of the cross.  (This of course presupposes the identity of the one who was nailed there, the Son of God.)  In modern eyes, when we say the outrageousness of the cross, one might suppose the outrage is in its torture.  We would argue that no one deserves such cruel punishment.  The outrage of the cross however is not in its torture, but that the Sinless would be punished in place of the sinful, the Selfless would die in the place of the selfish, the Guiltless condemned in the place of the guilty.  The outrage is amplified in Jesus’ silence as the charges were being hurled across the courtyard (v4-5).  The outrage of this cross where we might see the unveiled outrage of our own sin, knowing that is our sin for which Jesus is dying for, we effectively take part in condemning and mocking Him.

The Ironies of The Cross Reveal the Truth Humanity Could Not See